The graves along the Hüne Trail are the most tangible remains of a society that settled around 3500 BC and yet the graves still raise plenty of questions. More than 900 megalithic tombs, made from stacked boulders, can still be found in Germany today – mostly in the north. The unique Hüne Trail connects the most important of them and takes you back to antiquity.

The tombs rise as mounds in forests, stand in the middle of fields or crowd together, several at a time along a gravel path. The shape of the tombs are as varied as the landscape in which they’re found. That landscape is the UNESCO Terra.vita Geopark, the 1,550-square-metre (16,684 sq ft) nature park between Osnabrück and Papenburg. Over 220 kilometres (137 mi), the main route of the Hüne Trail leads you to more than 15 burial sites.

But it’s not only the megalithic tombs that make this long-distance hiking trail special. On the Hüne Trail, you’ll hike through the mountainous Ankumer Höhe and old oak forests in the Osnabrücker Land. You’ll also get to know the impressive moorland and flatter, heath-dominated paths of the Emsland.
You can hike the Hüne Trail in two ways: in this Collection, I'll introduce you to the main trail, which takes you from Osnabrück to Papenburg in eight stages. In addition, there’s a Dutch section of the trail, which runs from Emmen to meet the main trail at Haselünne. This connection leads through the Dutch province of Drethe, which is home to 52 of the total 54 Dutch tombs.

The decision is entirely up to you whether you want to hike the main route only, tackle the Dutch trail from Emmen, or even fully incorporate this extra section into the overall hike. You can find the exact route of the Netherlands connection here: komoot.de/collection/1368595.

You can use the train to reach the start and end points on whichever section you’d like to do, thanks to the well-developed rail network in northern Germany. Both Osnabrück and Papenburg have a train station, and both are connected by long-distance and local trains. In addition, you can also reach most cities by bus and train. So you can also hike individual stages as a day Tour. The stages of the long-distance hike are planned in such a way that you’ll always find at least one place to stay at each stage destination. However, it’s best to book in advance.

The Hüne Trail can be walked by anyone with enthusiasm and good footwear. For the most part, it runs along well-maintained hiking trails and only has a few notable climbs at the beginning. The trails are mainly flat, especially in the Emsland region. On the trail, you can enjoy the often untouched nature and get to know the significant Neolithic sites.